Politics in high school softball suck!

I was a first year AC on our hs team last year... it was a huge let down. My expectations were much higher than reality... The varsity team could have been steamrolled by a decent rec team! Unorganized and unproductive. There were rec league girls galore... it was alot of hard work but they got alot better by the seasons end. This year is another story. We have 15 girls coming from both A and B travel ball teams (all freshman) so our varsity team will be mostly freshman. We will start the best regardless of age.

Politics in HS suck. My DD is overwhelmingly better than any other kid on her school team, and easily in the top 3 in her conference, ad has been since she was a freashman. She plays every inning and puts up outstanding numbers. The politics begin when you leave the school. If she were at many other schools, she'd get POY, all state, etc. but her team hardly ever wins a game, so she's ignored. Her school isnt a powerhouse, so she's ignored. Hard to read in the newspaper about some other kid getting awards, who is by far not the player my DD is. She's a senior now and has finally learned to let it roll off her back (and we have too). She will be heading to a major DI to play next year, while some of our area "superstars" cannot find a home to play at. You and your daughter should look at the big picture. That's what's important.

Scl1991 said:

Politics in HS suck. My DD is overwhelmingly better than any other kid on her school team, and easily in the top 3 in her conference, ad has been since she was a freashman. She plays every inning and puts up outstanding numbers. The politics begin when you leave the school. If she were at many other schools, she'd get POY, all state, etc. but her team hardly ever wins a game, so she's ignored. Her school isnt a powerhouse, so she's ignored. Hard to read in the newspaper about some other kid getting awards, who is by far not the player my DD is. She's a senior now and has finally learned to let it roll off her back (and we have too). She will be heading to a major DI to play next year, while some of our area "superstars" cannot find a home to play at. You and your daughter should look at the big picture. That's what's important.

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Scl - Just be grateful that your DD's HS situation was a "lack of recognition" issue, rather than a political issue that limited her opportunity to play and perform. Conference voting alliances, TB team allegiances, hometown newspaper coverage or lack thereof, cooked statistics and other "politics" always play a role in all-conference/all-state and other post-season award selections. Frustrating indeed, but recognition from those that don't know what they are recognizing doesn't matter much! Sounds like her hard work and performance were recognized by those who might actually know something about the game and that's always the real bottom line.

Congrats and good luck to her next year!

Scl1991 said:

Politics in HS suck. My DD is overwhelmingly better than any other kid on her school team, and easily in the top 3 in her conference, ad has been since she was a freashman. She plays every inning and puts up outstanding numbers. The politics begin when you leave the school. If she were at many other schools, she'd get POY, all state, etc. but her team hardly ever wins a game, so she's ignored. Her school isnt a powerhouse, so she's ignored. Hard to read in the newspaper about some other kid getting awards, who is by far not the player my DD is. She's a senior now and has finally learned to let it roll off her back (and we have too). She will be heading to a major DI to play next year, while some of our area "superstars" cannot find a home to play at. You and your daughter should look at the big picture. That's what's important.

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This isn't politics, imo. It's either the ignorance of newspaper reporters (it's not a marquee sport where reporters are going to see every game and understand it like football) or the failure of your DD's head coach to persuade the media or opposing coaches of your DD's prowess. You see similar things in travel ball. Travel coaches don't always pick the best players at tryouts, or they don't always rate them correctly among they players that they do pick. I'd bet that if you picked an all-state team at the end of every summer from the travel ball season that you'd be just as likely to be frustrated with the selections.

If we had yalls problems I'd probably just shoot myself.

Our awards are pretty near the mark. That goes for All district, tournament, region, sub and state. Maybe out of the 3 years I've seen a couple of awards that I scratch my head on, not that they were WAY off.......but I'd just personally gave it to another player that looked better to me. ( and no, not my kid )

I'd also have to commend our press in the media. Those guys are always at the games and give the girls some good ink and interviews. Who would ever think you'd see 20 teen age girls grabbing a paper at the gas station before school to see who got mentioned in last nights game?

GOINGDEEP said:

I'd also have to commend our press in the media. Those guys are always at the games and give the girls some good ink and interviews. Who would ever think you'd see 20 teen age girls grabbing a paper at the gas station before school to see who got mentioned in last nights game?

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One of the nice things about high school softball is the opportunity to get some media recognition. That's great that you're in an area where HS softball is covered well. Amid all the bashing of HS ball, I think it's important to remember that the only people who care about travel ball are the kids who play it, their parents, coaches, officials. Travel ball teams don't have fans. Our daughters' friends and schoolmates and teachers don't care about their travel teams. They're not newsworthy. The high school team that wins a regional or state championship is newsworthy. And it's newsworthy for a reason - It matters to more people.

Shanzs,

I feel your pain. I myself was screwed over in HS baseball by my coach. Unfortunately I didn't handle it in an a proper way, got pissed and threw a bat and temper tantrum in the dugout and quit on the spot. Ended up costing me my college ride. I realized that I didn't handle it the right way but I also swore that my kids would never go to that HS.

Karma did turn in my favor with my oldest daughter though, she's been a starter on varsity for her first 2 yrs of HS and this past year she hit a 2 run HR in the 8th against my old HS to knock them out of the playoffs. She's gotten several D1 offers and my past failings have been a tremendous teaching tool for me to use with her.

I firmly believe that my mistakes have made me a better father. I hope that you and your DD continue to take the high road, unlike me, and your DD gets everything she wants.

coach james said:

...btw, my dd threw back to back no hitters in a tournament to be rewarded with bench time in the championship game...

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Personally, I would have been upset if a coach pitched my DD 3 games in a row. The $5 piece of hardware is not worth the wear and tear on her arm.

Well said CoogansBluff....and exactly right. Here in Kansas City (Missouri) high school ball is very well covered by all the local fish wraps and very accurrate on deserving post season honors given. Now I do agree that Club ball is the most important to get a player to noticed by a college coach but it does get next to none on press and no one cares outside the softball community.

It's funny to watch parents get really wrapped up in it and really push to get involved in the politics....then when their kid gets outplayed by a teammate or no post season honors come their way, then HS becomes stupid and irrelivent to them....it's so hypocritical but a good way to see who your real friends are....my DD won many post honors and then just a couple of weeks ago was the only sophomore named to the "All-Metro" team here in KC....my wife and I got so many congrats and the teachers at her school treated her like a rock star.....it's the most talked about thing every year in the softball commmunity.....but she only got two "congrats" from our HS parents and just one from a TB team parent and I'm always the first one to do it for others....so dissapointing....

As for politics....we were there last year...stuck in JV hell and even though she was more than deserving to be on the varsity while a couple of her freshman TB teammates were on the varsity and didn't deserve it....we had to put up with them and their parents condensention all fall....but we all just shut up and my DD played and never complained to anyone, as we didn't trust anyone. We took some crap from others around who seemed to enjoy their feelings of superiority and benefits from their parents blatant brown nosing....none of them had a very good fall last year thoough and my DD got all kinds of kudos and college interest now.....oh how the tables have turned.

My point is sometimes hard work and talent can outlast a lack of skill and plain old "tyranny"....I've used the word "tyranny" on this site before and got in trouble....but lets's face it, just about every facit of American life involves some kind of lobbing and/or bribery to some degree....it's a tough lesson to learn for a kid who just wants to play softball....

I'm sorry your DD has had it so rough, shannz. HS ball is something we've been looking forward to, but I can see that the reality is, we'll have to hope for the best and live with whatever happens.

DD's school is good-sized with three softball teams. I expect to see her playing JV as a Freshman, would be pleasantly surprised if she made varsity and would be disappointed if she was put on the C team. I don't think I could hold in my temper if she was playing as well as your daughter year after year and being relegated to the backburner! Who am I kidding, I KNOW I couldn't. Her last team didn't let her catch for a couple of months; I finally lost it and told them we were going to leave.

Her current coach's brother is the head coach of our district's other high school. But their whole family is very softball-oriented and her coach is supportive of all local HS softball, so I'm hoping politics will be for her, or at least not against her. I know HS ball isn't of earth-shakig importance, but I think there is something special about playing for your school.